Summary

Sisko, Odo, O'Brien, and Worf are sent on a mission to expose Gowron as a Changeling infiltrator, only to discover that it was Martok who had been replaced. The Changeling impersonating Martok is killed, but Gowron is still not ready to end the war with the Federation. The crew is able to capture a crashed Jem'Hadar ship and return it to Starfleet. Worf helps Quark woo his ex-wife Grilka, while he and Jadzia Dax start a relationship initiated by Dax.

Jake Sisko is doing a report on Julian Bashir in a later episode when they are called to help a Federation colony against Klingon attack. Jake has his first real dealings with death and the horrors of war. Keiko O'Brien later gets possessed by a strange noncorporeal being who forces Miles to do whatever she says or else she'll kill Keiko. Miles is, of course, able to outwit her.

The crew travels back in time to the 23rd century and thwarts a plot by Arne Darvin to kill James T. Kirk. Odo is forced to reveal that he had three innocent Bajorans executed during the occupation. Later, he and Quark crash on an L-class planet and must climb a mountain in order to get a signal through to Deep Space 9. After an accident in the holosuite, Sisko begins having visions of past, present and future, preventing Bajor from joining the United Federation of Planets by claiming that it will be disastrous for Bajor to do so.

A few weeks before giving birth to Kirayoshi O'Brien, Kira Nerys tracks down a Cardassian who has been killing members of the Shakaar resistance cell as revenge for having been disfigured by one of their attacks. Odo receives a sick infant Changeling from Quark which he attempts to nurse back to health, but with no success. However, before it "dies" it absorbs itself into Odo's body and gives Odo back his shape-shifting abilities.

Sisko vows to track down and arrest Maquis renegade Michael Eddington after he attacks a Federation starship. Sisko poisons a Maquis colony and Eddington agrees to surrender. Garak receives a signal from Enabran Tain, indicating that he is alive in a Dominion prison. He and Worf attempt a rescue, but are captured themselves, where they discover the real Martok and Julian Bashir, who has also been captured and replaced by a shapeshifter. Tain acknowledges Garak as his son before he dies. The rest escape and return to the station. General Martok stays on DS9 as Klingon representative for the new alliance between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Dukat reveals that he has negotiated Cardassia's entry into the Dominion, becoming absolute ruler of his planet under Dominion rule.

Julian Bashir meets the creator of the EMH, who wants to use Bashir for his next Emergency Medical Holographic program. It is discovered that Bashir had been genetically altered to make him stronger and smarter as he was "slow" as a child. Odo falls in and out of love with a mysterious woman, Quark begins smuggling weapons "illegally," but has a change of heart.

Tekeny Ghemor returns to the station and reveals all his secrets to Kira before he dies. Dukat and Weyoun try to prevent it, but are too late. Quark finds out his mother and the Grand Nagus had fallen in love, and Worf accompanies Martok on a mission to rescue another Klingon ship from the Jem'Hadar. In return, Martok lets Worf into his House. The crew discovers an alternate timeline by the crew aboard the USS Defiant which has the Defiant being thrown back in time and crashing on a planet, and a world of eight thousand being created by the survivors of this crash. This event, however, is prevented by an alternate version of Odo, who confesses his love to Kira.

After the Cardassian-Dominion alliance has nearly wiped out the Maquis, Eddington tricks Sisko into releasing him so they can prevent a last strike. He dies in a blaze of glory, allowing the survivors to escape from the Jem'Hadar. O'Brien, Garak, and Nog travel to Empok Nor to salvage station parts, but Garak is infected by a Cardassian virus and turns to a murderous rage.

Jake and Nog manage to cheer Ben Sisko up by offering him a baseball card. The Dominion offers Bajor a non-aggression pact, which they resist at first, but Sisko endorses it so they will stay out of the fighting. After the crew decides to mine the wormhole to prevent further Dominion reinforcements from coming through, the Dominion attacks and the crew – including Garak – is forced to abandon the station, escaping on the Defiant. Odo, Kira, Quark and Jake stay behind as Dukat, Weyoun, and the Jem'Hadar occupy the station. The Dominion War has begun.

Background

The writers' primary goal during season 5 was to get the show back on the track they'd been on in season 3, ie moving towards war with the Dominion. Season 3 was originally supposed to conclude with the episode that ultimately became "Homefront", while season 4 was to open with "Paradise Lost". However, towards the end of season 3, Paramount had told the writers that they didn't want a cliffhanger ending, and they also wanted 'something' done to shake up the show, which ultimately led to the introduction of Worf and the Klingons. The Klingon war arc took up most of season 4, so now that the writers were moving into the next season, they wanted to end the Klingon conflict and get back to the inevitable conflict with the Dominion. As executive producer and writer Ira Steven Behr states, "Season 4 threw us for a loop, with the whole Klingon thing, and bringing Worf into the show. So the seminal thing about our fifth season was that we wanted to get back on the track we'd anticipated being on a year earlier. We were moving back toward making the shape-shifters and the Dominion our enemies. Not the Klingons. I didn't want to have the Klingons as our enemies." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Art Director Randy McIlvain took over Herman Zimmerman's role as production designer for the first five episodes of the season, while Zimmerman was working on Star Trek: First Contact. After production of First Contact was complete, Zimmerman resumed his regular role on the show.

Crew

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